Uganda’s 53 year-old Simon Peter Engurait, a priest of the United States diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and current diocesan administrator, has been appointed as the first Ugandan bishop of Houma-Thibodaux by Pope Leo XIV.
The appointment was announced in Washington, D.C., by Većeslav Tumir, chargé d’ affaires, of the Apostolic Nunciature, in the temporary absence of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Engurait, the bishop-elect of Houma-Thibodaux was born on August 28, 1971, in Ngora, Uganda. He attended St. Peter’s College in Tororo, Uganda, and studied at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He received a bachlor’s degree at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda (1995), a master of divinity from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana (2013) and a master of business administration at Maastricht School of Management in The Netherlands (1999).
Engurait was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 2013, and has served as pastor of Saint Bridget parish in Schriever since 2017.
Engurait’s assignments after ordination include: parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales in Houma (2013-2015), Saint Genevieve parish in Thibodaux (2015-2016), and Christ the Redeemer parish in Thibodaux (2016-2017).
Engurait has also served as the vicar general of the diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s between 2017 and 2024, and as moderator of the curia since 2016.
He has served as the diocesan administrator since 2024. Engurait speaks English, Ateso, Kishwahili, and Spanish.
The diocese of Houma-Thibodaux is comprised of 3,500 square miles in the State of Louisiana, and has a total population of 257,548, with about 75,761 Catholic population.
